The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has blocked the release of critically acclaimed film Santosh over concerns about its portrayal of misogyny, Islamophobia and violence in the Indian police force, reports said.
Santosh was written and directed by British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri. The movie was this year’s UK submission to the international Oscar category.
Set in north India, the film portrays the life of a young widow who joins the police force and investigates the murder of a young Dalit girl.
Sandhya Suri has described the decision by the censors to block its release as “disappointing and heartbreaking”.
“It was surprising for all of us because I didn’t feel that these issues were particularly new to Indian cinema or hadn’t been raised before by other films,” she told The Guardian.
Suri emphasised that while the film offered an uncompromising depiction of the police, “I don’t feel my film glorifies violence in a way that many other films focusing on the police have done. There’s nothing sensationalist about it.”
According to The Guardian, the decision by the censorship board comes at a time when India’s cultural sphere is seen to be more heavily policed than ever, with films and TV series dealing with politically sensitive themes often targeted with hate campaigns and police cases, or dropped by streaming platforms before they are released.